Deranged disco metal? Gonzo noise-punk firebrands? Genre munching mega racket? Chaotic noise-hop? Here are a band who namecheck Motley Crüe, Rick James, Pharell Williams, Slick Rick and Slayer as well as an increasingly long list of future star bands like Need New Bodies and Sex Positions. At 25 (Rory Atwell) and 19 (Sam Mehran and Devonté Hynes) they listen to everything: metal, grime, hardcore, rock, hip hop, pop. It’s all in there. And boy, can you tell.
Test Icicles sound like Bloc Party on drugs and in detention. Or a parallel universe Rancid wired into the touretting energy of early Beastie Boys. Or, indeed, an amalgam of almost everyone you can think of – ever. Their newly-recorded album ‘For Screening Purposes Only’ is a screaming, thrashing pedal-to-the-metal hardcore pop freak-out.
First single Boa Vs Python was met with astonishing aplomb, the anthemic second single Circle Square Triangle (which contains the FM-heading chorus ‘We could do with some more Poison’ repeated over and over again until the listener explodes into pogo mania) will certainly light the fires of many more. Whether they sound like snotty skatepunk tykes (What’s Your Damage), the spikey grandsons of The Stooges (Snowball) or the UK brethren of Pantera (Catch it!) their debut album is a breathless, exhuberant testament to youth’s joie de vivre.